Trump Rape Controversy and Other Political Theater What the Story Isn’t

Just when I didn’t want to do another Donald Trump story, just when I thought I had coved him from all possible angles without descending into the media clown car chaos making him so popular, just when I wanted to put him as a blog, article topic on the back burner, at least until covering the first GOP debate, lest readers get sick of looking at his name in a title, the words Trump and rape controversy end up in a headline; as more and more came out, it became clear there was something to this worth bringing to America’s attention, worth people not dismissing it as simply another media blitz using his name. Because the story isn’t political rivals who leaked something to the media, blew something out of proportion to get ahead, win points, get noticed, get attention in a double digit candidate crowded field vying for the same limited section of voters. Because the story isn’t another game of he said she said between the rich and powerful, where his ex-wife Ivana might have said the word rape to describe sex with him at a time of high drama during their divorce, 2 wealthy tycoons duking it out over what else, money. Neither is it the dubiousness of her avid support of his bid for president, staunch denials he ever raped her, reported years of refuting heated words said in or out of court depositions, though it does cast an unhealthy pallor on things. No, the story is that while the rape allegations may be without merit, an old story brought to the forefront in efforts to derail the Trump surge throughout the polls during one of the most bizarre pre-primary seasons in American history regarding politics, his lawyers actions, shocking response lend credence to their potential validity and represent a troubling reality for Trump supporters, a troubling view of possible future president Trump. Beyond a PR nightmare, a chance at damaging, up to now, favorable poll numbers few would believe if they weren’t seeing them, alarming is, here is the spokesperson, the hitherto face of the Trump campaign making statements in his absence, on purely legal matters involving the business mogul, his bid for president. An individual presumably possessing holding a valid, current license to practice law within one of the 50 states, and not only does he tell The Daily Beast, by definition you can’t rape your spouse, alleging there was case law to that effect, either before or after that, post being simply asked about the allegations, if Mr. Trump had any comment, he threatens a reporter with profanity, threatens to mess his life up. Behavior reminiscent of former republican congressman Michael Grimm who threatened to throw a reporter off a Capitol building balcony because he didn’t like his questions into a federal investigation surrounding Grimm and campaign funds, for which he would be later indicted on 20 counts. Returning to Trump, what now, so his abysmal handling of a non-issue suddenly becomes a much bigger headline, made a headline all the more to begin with due to his boss’, as pointed out by the bewildered reporter, wildly unfounded characterizations of Mexicans, illegal immigrants crossing our borders as rapists, murderers and drug dealers. Certainly times have changed since Trump came of age, built his empire, began and later dissolved his first marriage, psychology, social perspectives, public understanding has evolved on such a sensitive social problem as rape; however, the comments came from aid Michael Cohen presumably practicing law currently, well versed in the 21st century, changing concepts on rape, case law regarding rape. Oh and to be abundantly clear, marital rape is a form of rape recognized by courts of law on every level and illegal in all 50 states. But what does it say when you’re top legal adviser working for you, contributing to your campaign doesn’t seem to know current laws as basic as that? How will they advise you on much more complicated matters of constitutional law, international law, since Trump loves to bash president Obama’s Iran deal, criticize foreign trade deals calling the representatives doing so on our behalf horrible negotiators and stupid people; considering Cohen’s remarks, if you’re Trump, can you trust any recommendations he might give you for lawyers who specialize in any of those areas, added sections of law he would need to consult an expert on continuing his campaign and knowledgably speaking about things he wants to do? Further what does it say about Trump, what kind of president he will be he would have someone working for him, hire someone, use them in his campaign who thinks like this on such a pivotal social issue?

The story resonates when rape remains a volatile, never far from the surface topic nationwide; you have what just happened with Bill Cosby, the con job of all con jobs regarding public image versus private life, the shattering of American confidence in an icon, a role model and what we now know about his own admissions to, at the very minimum, giving women drugs before sex, vindicating many of his accusers who see him as finally losing his innocent victim of probable gold diggers defense/excuse. The powerful magazine cover including 35 of his accusers and an empty chair representing more who could be out there, women who ultimately stay silent about their sexual assault usually for fear of not being believed, fear of being branded a slut, fear of the power wielded by the person who victimized them. Shocking though the photo representation, imagine an identical cover with the number of women raped each year right here in America, the complete numbers incorporating those that sadly go unreported; then you see why the Trump lawyer’s attitude matters. It resonates despite the poorly reported Rolling Stone article’s turned out to be fictitious account of fraternity rape involving a woman only known as Jackie in light of very real incidents of rape, sex assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment taking place on college campuses, the documented rape culture having taken root among high school and college young men; their story exposing some eye opening, out of touch, even dangerous responses by school administration, campus officials. Thinking, not going to fraternity parties would solve the problem; that the solution was to tell girls to protect themselves, alter their lives, not even in the area of party safety, instead of tell men not to rape, they will be persecuted if they rape, informing everyone, men in particular, what does and does not constitute legal consent. It echoes in the minds of women, teens girls who find themselves on the business end of puritanical school dress codes enacted by pervy white men, when they endure cat calls, sexually laden comments from their classmates, fellow members of society, adults showcasing the male entitlement to women’s bodies across all ages, viewing them as objects rather than people; when your purity in our society isn’t measured by your behavior, your conduct, maturity, demonstrated responsibility but by the length of your shorts, your skirt, whether or not you wear spaghetti straps on a tank, workout top, your bra strap can be seen wearing either garment, whether or not you wear yoga pants, if you, of age, go to a bar, solely on how many sexual partners you have sans circumstance. It dominates social issues and social perspectives for women seeing countless pro athlete public figures embroiled in domestic violence scandals, caught on tape, facing charges for treating their significant others, people they profess to love like punching bags and the recently exposed cover up job done by the NFL appearing to put winning games, national football rankings, national football as a sport above the health and safety, the very lives of women. Politically it resonates as women feel, see their rights dwindling before their eyes; many living in states run by governor, now presidential candidate, Perry housing the most restrictive abortion law on the books, former governor, now candidate, Huckabee who would doubtlessly try to do the same thing all across America should he win the Whitehouse. Legislation shutting down virtually every women’s clinic in Perry’s state, Texas, similar legislation passed in Mississippi and elsewhere; women’s clinics providing numerous gynecological services, female health services apart from abortion, mammogram, mammogram referrals to name just one. Women on the front lines of reproductive rights circa the 1960’s who can’t believe in 2012, 13, 14 and 15 we are still having conversations about contraceptives, reproductive rights, the rights of women essentially to their own bodies; mystified wondering how preventing pregnancy, treating reproductive organ disorders, female related genetic disorders, teen acne devolved into all contraceptives are abortifacient, how all reproductive care available to women degenerated into a religious freedom fight women and science, not to mention rudimentary sociology, lost. Rush Limbaugh virtually got away with calling Sandra Fluke a slut for testifying to a congressional hearing on women’s issues about current obstacles to women getting their required birth control and what they needed it for, a majority to treat medical diseases, not caused by sex, promiscuous sex, detailing why women needed high end, more expensive contraceptive options prescribed by their doctors, usually genetic disorders; for that she was characterized as “having so much sex she wanted the government to pay for her birth control,” a congressional hearing on women’s issues where no women were originally invited. Remember at the end of the day, while the Supreme Court upheld Obama care and rendered a final yes on gay marriage being the law of the land, they sided with Hobby Lobby on contraceptives availability for workers of Christian employers making it all the harder for Obama care to function, for women to get the care, medicine they want and need. Trump’s rape allegations carry weight with voters when we are still raw from the last election cycle and politicians so ignorant on women’s issues, women’s bodies Todd Akin made up magical attributes supposedly able to prevent pregnancy resulting from rape, simultaneously coining the most absolutely offensive term of the cycle, saying if indeed it was ‘legitimate rape;” a term he never adequately defined receiving untold backlash for implying some rapes were illegitimate, didn’t count if a woman got pregnant, all in an effort to defend his ultra-prolife, abortion should never be legal stance, ultimately losing his 2012 senate bid. When Indiana’s Richard Mourdock pulled the same thing trying to make a pro-life comment expounding on the joy children can bring their parents independent of the circumstances leading to their conception, in other words even children who were the product of rape. No one is eager to go back to a commentator’s question in 2012, did the rape candidate win, and the response was, which one?

At issue isn’t the validity of a lawyer claiming Trump ‘blew up,’ had a meltdown when she needed to pump best milk for her child, coming out back to back with the rape story obviously by design, whether that should be left on the deposition room floor adjacent to petty squabbles between other workers occupying lower, different professions, has any place in where he stands running for president, even how it will play with the estimated millions upon millions of women voters, if this person was looking for her 5-15 minutes of fame disparaging him, seeking to discredit a successful man now that he’s trying to run for president. But it goes directly to we don’t have equal play for equal work in this country by law despite the Lilly Ledbetter Act, all that did was make it easier to sue when you discover you’re not being paid equally; which is important, yet does nothing regarding legislation, changing attitudes pertaining to women getting paid equal to a man for the same job, identical work. Largely because salary for so many middle management to upper echelon jobs, high ends of clerical, administrative assistant and such positions is negotiated, factoring in things like years of experience, knowledge of work procedures, computer software other aspects everyone many not have, years with company, who company X was able to lure you way from, efficiency and likeability within the workplace; as opposed to, throwing a shot in the dark, a calculated, numbers based formula yes based on merit, achievement, on the other hand incorporating some logic, scientific method into it providing guidelines to employers who want to do it right without depending exclusively on prowess of one employees negotiation skills over another. Why can’t it, why doesn’t it mirror federal government calculations on poverty, poverty lines exc.; why is that so out of line? It speaks directly to we don’t have a national maternity/paternity leave policy for new mothers or fathers who want to take off with their child, unlike the rest of the developed world, and the type of work environments created by Trump’s apparent, demonstrated attitude; reminiscent of last fall when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told women not to ask for raises rather to trust karma to give it to them, a subsequent Fortune Magazine article detailing what was keeping women away from coding. Hint, it wasn’t math was too hard, programming too difficult, education requirements over their heads, what makes specific work cultures untenable for women and minorities; Fortune citied real life instance after real life instance recounting gender based obstacles, added barriers for those entering motherhood, workplace dynamics making them the only person of their gender, race, sexual orientation employed, where they left the field because of how they were made to feel while there. Not missing, one woman who was A- was pressured into coming back early from maternity leave, then asked to take a business trip shortly after said return worried about nursing her infant; another brand new mom had no place to pump breast milk resulting in her only being able to work about 2 hours at a time. Still another again had to A- negotiate her maternity leave, 12 weeks unpaid, B- was subject to a beeper, back when they had those things, expected to answer within 15 minutes and always be on call if there was a problem; she describes trying to nurse her screaming son freaking out she would be fired if she didn’t answer. Enter Donald Trump for president, the story of Elizabeth Beck attorney, career professional and something bad, unseemly that happened to a woman in a Trump related workplace, on the heels of us discovering nationally how many women aren’t paid equally for their work in the 21st century, the kinds of workplace bias present even among women penalizing women for exhibiting traits we would praise in a man; a man is neat but a woman is vain, a man is assertive, persuasive, a woman pushy, a male interviewing for a job is confident, a woman is arrogant, overstating her abilities, a man is dedicated a woman selfish, expecting to get somewhere with the American people when he admits he probably said she was disgusting or similar words to that effect? For the record the lawyer in question was hired by persons on the wrong end of a deal with Mr. Trump, a meeting was coordinated between her and Trump’s legal team, a prearranged lunch agreed upon, when that time came, Trump suddenly announces no breaks forcing her to reveal why she needs a break; at which point, he stood up, began yelling, wagged his finger in her face and called her disgusting. So there is no evidence of a lack of professionalism on the part of Elizabeth Beck, nor was it she randomly stood up in the middle of a deposition saying she needed to go pump breast milk, tried to pull out a breast pump and pump milk in front of him; would he have reacted the same way if all parties needed a bathroom break after several hours, a chance to get a cup of coffee stretch their legs, because women possess such tiny bladders? Fact, alleged incident unlike that involving his wife in the 1990’s, happened not in the 1960’s, 70’s 80’s 90’s, early 2000’s, but in 2011making him equally unable to claim changing times, social attitudes or a personal evolution to a better man since then, similar to what he did when confronted by a reporter channeling the LGBT challenge to Trump’s stance on gay marriage responding to their question, what is traditional about being married 3 times implying his first 2 marriages he was more married to his career and his current one will work because he is less career invested. Her story only adding to known sexist, misogynistic statements, behavior patterns previously on record hardly limited to the Rolling Stone, who definitely got it right this time, highlights, “vetting Miss USA contestants for perceived hotness, bragging about keeping Ivana’s “arrogance” in check, calling female journalists who criticize him ugly, sneering at women for having sex while preening about what a stud he is for doing the same, and joking about how wives are things to be discarded when you get tired of them,” inappropriate comments about his own daughter amounting to she was so hot, if she wasn’t his kid, he would probably be dating her- gag. Up for decision by voters is, understanding how important women and functional workplaces are to a thriving economy, the piece of economic restoration few speak about, giving equal pay for equal work could cut the poverty rate, especially for children in half, who’s going to get us there and who in their right mind being a son who has a mother, a brother to a sister, uncle to a niece, husband to a wife, father to a daughter is going to vote for that to create the kind of world they want their loved ones to live in?

In actuality, Mr. Trump is a bad rehash of everyone from 2012 all rolled into one; his comments on illegal immigrants and Iran sound all too familiar, too much like Newt Gingrich who denied the Palestinians were a people, a culture, lumping them in with plain Arabs, exacerbating things in the middle east, earning him the twitter hash tag awkward. Nearly identical to our business mogul turned presidential candidate’s planned negotiations with the latter, his partially, reluctant unveiling of what to do about ISIS, ISIL, bomb Iraqi oil fields to oblivion. The Donald and his idea to build a wall having Mexico pay for it resurrecting Herman Cain and his electric fence with a sign warning attempted scalers it could kill them, Cain’s botched Gitmo question, dido with his proposed taxes on imports, his would be negotiation tactics trading with Japan, China as wonky and out of it as 9, 9, 9. Addressing Ukraine, Crimea and Russian aggression toward neighboring parts of Europe, he asserts Russian president Putin, who started it all making, of all people, Mitt Romney appear to know something we collectively didn’t when he stood up in the final 2012 presidential debate saying Russia would be our next great threat, hey we’ve all had broken watches and they were right twice a day, would respect him going on to downplay the Crimea/Russia problem’s effect on America adding we can’t be the world’s policemen; asking why Europe wasn’t more involved, why power house Germany wasn’t leading actions against Putin. Valid point, valid questions, popular here with people tired of minding the world’s business, paying huge prices in resources, dollars, lives to solve the world’s problems channeling Rand Paul, then or now, wanting us out of Iraq, out of Afghanistan, really no matter what condition we left the 2 places in, who wanted us to stay uninvolved in the things around us circa 2012 and who said in a speech marking the recent past no more giving money to counties where leaders, people chant death to America. Myself far from the first person to shout it’s hardly that cut and dry, reminding citizens here of the difference between leaders who say that and civilians who desperately need, depend on humanitarian aid, differences between the way things work here and there, people who genuinely feel that way and are standing there doing that because their leader said do it or die, why civilians in these places might feel that way, who feel abandoned by the almighty, wealthy U.S., who suddenly doesn’t have the stomach to help, doesn’t care about the plight of people who have lives, family, children too. Quite Frankly mirroring American intervention, or should we say, lack of intervention in Syria; evidence of biological warfare used by a leader against his own people, indicators a dictator was bombing his own non-combatant, civilian population and officials here did nothing, people like senator Paul holding fast to don’t get involved, don’t let politicians get us into another war. His view of climate change, environmental protection, emission standards clear in a tweet where he insinuated it was made up by China to make American manufacturing non-competitive, at a more recent point asking why we have to control our emissions now and China gets to start in 30 years. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to predict him siding with candidate Huckabee’s view, 2008 or now, on the minimum wage hike, finding it ludicrous to pay workers $15 an hour to do such medial labor working fast food, retail no matter whose life it would improve, whom it would benefit, independent the jobs he plans to take back from Japan, China, what jobs you can get in the meantime, who will be eligible for those jobs when and if they truly materialize. Adopting the fallacy raise your skills if you want a raise in pay, forget if there is no place to get those skills, no means i.e. money to garner them, single parents who have turned down managerial positions at McDonald’s because they need stable, predictable hours to care for their children. His opposition to Obama care, pledge to repeal and replace it raising multiple red flags for anyone whose read his books the 2000 one offering up a plan strikingly similar to single payer, proposing an interim plan when held side by side to Obama care you can’t tell the difference, facts even making a New Hampshire focus group who loved his nervous; by his 2011 book those ideas are all gone. Leading to the inevitable question replace it with what and sends us back to fear of death panels, audience members cheering Ron Paul’s let them die speaking about the old, uninsured and the latest people factions love to hate, illegal immigrants, leaves voters wondering is the alternative, his alternative Paul Ryan’s voucher program pushed beyond Medicare, is that too his idea of saving it, removing fraud and waste. He has vowed to save social security as well; it’s the how onlookers are anxious about. Are we again on the path to privatization, tying it to the volatile stock market; relatedly, for all the people who believe Hilary Clinton won’t go after Wall Street, can you see Donald Trump, who also in his 2000 book supported a 14% wealth tax, 2011 no mention, that one explained later in a previous flirt with running for president as the country could no longer afford it, whatever that meant when he was talking about top tier millionaires and billionaires. Avoiding beating around the bush, how will he be on women’s issues doesn’t need to be answered by a clairvoyant, at best things remain the same we go back to a variation on Mitt Romney’s binders full of women eligible for cabinet positions who can’t take them because they can’t put in12 hour days, something Trump who admittedly lost 2 marriages to his career won’t understand, personhood bills, abortion restrictions, contraceptive limitations stay where they are spreading no further, we get no movement on equal pay for equal work and continue disenfranchising single mothers raising children because of our thoughts on minimum wage; at worst his prolife stance takes on the life of the evangelical republican crowd al-a Rick Santorum, running again, who said amniocentesis lead to more abortions as a reason why it should be excluded from Obama care, next we’ll see exclusions for almost everything for almost every reason. None of which flew with voters then and there is no indication it will come election night 2016 and Trump may have a bigger problem garnering votes than strange polices, or at least he should.

Already early in the running, campaign season barely started, it’s a long way to November 2016 Donald Trump has seriously significant staffing problems, forced to answer for an intern who used late war Nazi soldiers in a twitter image, currently having to distance himself from a long time lawyer working for him who said such out there things on rape; both proving you are only as strong as your weakest link, only as smart as your least capable, unintelligent employee. Important for the guy who is constantly bragging about his own intelligence, touting he went to Wharton, how well he did there; important for a hopeful next leader of the free world never missing an opportunity to call existing leaders, political operatives, government position holders stupid, unintelligent, incompetent, not smart, not the brightest people we could have working for us, on behalf of the American people. Absolutely critical for someone forever reiterating the importance of having the right people doing your negotiating, facilitating trade partnerships, handling aggressive, potentially dangerous nations, enemies, who can’t seem to pick the right legal persons, team, who can’t pick the correct campaign staff, who analysts observe doesn’t yet have a campaign structure, staff, facilities, boots on the ground talking to people, making connections, performing the needed functions helping you get elected; one of the reasons people still believe he is not truly serious. So here are his examples of picking persons for positions, the best and the brightest you could find, the best qualified, the most competent and if not, why aren’t you showing us, the electorate, how you can do it better, demonstrate to your competitors what they should do, what they should be looking for; when will you start using your prowess, choosing the people you need to run a successful bid for the Whitehouse, earn the title leader of the free world rather than just talk about it? Results from the guy who has flirted with making a bid for the presidency for years and the outcome reads, and you put no more thought into it than this. Instead of Trump greatness, expertise, hiring, business savvy on display here is a guy who would love Oprah as a possible VP; forget she has expressed no in interests in politics as far as running for office, let along beside Donald Trump, predictably has views diametrically opposed to him. Less than 2 weeks ago he told a radio show he would love to have former GOP 2012 darling Sara Palin on his presidential staff, perhaps in his cabinet, described her as a person who really knew what was happening, called her a special person, and it’s clear he didn’t mean, like most, stop eating the paste special. Sara Palin who, that was the problem for John McCain, his people royally screwed up the vetting of her as a VP candidate, Sara Palin who couldn’t answer a basic interview question on what magazines do you read and whose answer to dealing with foreign powers and potential trouble makers was you can see Russia from parts of Alaska; that Sara Palin you want in your cabinet? Sara Palin who similarly post a failed VP run, couldn’t finish her term as governor, who later went on a book tour of America promoting a book on, among other things history, who said to press cameras Paul Revere’s Ride was to warn the British as opposed to warn the American colonists, settlers, the British were coming, who in another press venue after mocking the president’s much publicized, on an apparently too slow news day, latte salute botched the address for the Whitehouse talking about the goings on at 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue, which doesn’t exist, 1401 is a hotel, the Whitehouse, famed seat of our national government, home of the president is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And she works in the political periphery, wants a life in politics; that Sara Palin who recently completed provocative comments on The O’Riely Factor comparing the confederate flag controversy and abortion asking which one killed 90,000 black babies flag or the logo for Planned Parenthood? So it’s oh never mind when the flag is commandeered by racial, social extremists and mentally unstable persons who believe the solution to our ills is less, no black people, walks into a church and kills people to achieve that end, never mind the real question of does it have a place on state government property, flying above, on the lawns of government buildings considering what just happened coupled with racial tensions in the south. One of the reasons 90,000 black babies were killed “and their baby parts sold,” assuming any of that is true or was done complicitly by Planned parenthood not a black market 3rd party, is because black lives don’t matter not even to Palin, we don’t give them equal chances at jobs, wages, education, we won’t go near urban blight neighborhoods, forget try to fix them, don’t inspect abortion clinics in poor, predominately black neighborhoods because who cares, nationwide there is a campaign using the phrase black live matter addressing police violence. That Sara Palin working for Trump, anyone else see a problem here? Speaking of said police violence this is essentially about do we want a leader who repeatedly claims the country is going to hell, yells we don’t have law and order, insinuates we have taken all the authority away from cops in light of what the last few years have shown us, the last few months, weeks? When the police charged with keeping, keeping to that law and order can’t follow the rule of law or order in interacting with the public, when we see via dash cam what happened to Sandra Bland pulled over for failing to signal, all experts agree viewing tape footage cop escalates matters, yelling, threatening her with a taser, opens her car door, eventually slams her to the ground, traumatizing her to the point she committed suicide in custody. The ACLU weighing in on an officer who forced a pregnant woman down to the ground; why, because she wouldn’t get off of her phone, on it to call for help handling an aggressive officer originally called to a fender bender dispute in an elementary school parking lot. An off duty detective caught on a mounted driver cellphone video threatening to put a hole in the drivers head for going the wrong way through a rotary traffic circle; driver an out of town visitor, never driven in one before, it’s night, it’s dark and the officer of the law, not a beat cop, traffic enforcer, but a detective threatens to kill him? You know you’re in trouble when the prosecutor stands up announcing your incitement and calls it the most asinine murder he’d seen a police officer commit in 30 years on the job; words describing the actions perpetrated by a Cincinnati Ohio University police officer who pulled over a man for a missing front license plate, man minutes later shot in the head officer radioing in he was being dragged as the man tried to get away, body cam telling a completely different story of a compliant, if somewhat evasive man, trying to ascertain why the officer tried to open his door, car placed in drive during a struggle began when officer reached his upper body into the open window. Further, why if our problem with law and order is a lack of police authority, do people keep ending up dead for minor violations and offenses met with overwhelming aggression, clearly excessive force, cops continuing to lie about events, cops placed on administrative leave for violating procedure in the Bland case, judge dismissing resisting arrest charges against the pregnant mother and the latest officer like, Michael Slager before him, justifiably charged with murder?

This is about do we want a leader who exaggerates at every opportunity from his own wealth, his own success, to the problems facing the nation he’s vying to take by the helm? Do we want a leader who makes a big show of going to the border, the danger to be found at the border, only to spend more time talking with reporters than examining what he contends is a major detriment to national security, a major threat to the American economy, a would be popularly leader who blatantly ignores news footage from the morning shows demonstrating sound border security in action; 2 illegal persons swiftly seen and apprehended in the pre-dawn hours. He made a big deal over the death of Kate Steinle as it related to sanctuary cities and local officials basically defying federal law but stays silent on a second illegal immigrant apprehended for attempted murder of one person and attempted rape of another person, a teenager; local law enforcement reportedly notifying ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) only for them not to pick this person up on his more minor violation, they say because local officials declined further help, letting him go to ultimately do what he did, when it highlights problems with ICE the government agency. Do we want a supposed leader whose response to criticism is not to “attack” those people on relevant issues in the appropriate related venue political policies, business record, successes, failures, moral short comings incongruent with public statements on values, but rather on personal irrelevant, unfounded topics? Take his comments on John McCain, who by the way, isn’t running for any office, isn’t in the battle to hold any new, current position up for reelection; instead of, if he wanted to challenge McCain’s commitment to veterans, asking as a former POW himself, how can he not do more for those returning veterans currently coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan? He chose to say he wasn’t a war hero because he was captured preferring people who weren’t captured, going on to yammer about McCain’s class ranking at Annapolis purportedly coming in last, then making his point on McCain and veterans; that point getting completely lost. Do we truly desire a leader whose critique is so juvenile, sophomoric as to make fun of someone wearing glasses alleging they did it so people will think them smarter, going on to say they needed to take an I.Q. test to be on a debate stage; too many political pundits buying into it agreeing they all knew governor Rick Perry did that to improve his image because you don’t need them on TV. Except you do if you have a genuine vision problem and don’t see distances well, want to see your audience clearly, want to see the reporter sitting across from you distinctly, be able to pick up of facial expressions, body language cues; I know from personal experience sitting in the stylists chair for a haircut, them always asking me at the conclusion how it looks, if it is acceptable and me asking for my glasses before I can say yay or nay. Do we want a future leader of the free world, future president of the United States so casual, caviler with information he digs up and blurts out someone’s cellphone number on national television to get back at them, hoping they’ll be inundated with calls from their constituency blasting their current performance like he did with Lindsey Graham; more importantly that he said these things, engaged in these actions as sheer retaliation to a name he was called, something someone said about him he didn’t like? It doesn’t matter that the number was probably old, long ago inactive or how easy it is to deactivate a cellphone and get another one; it matters what a potential danger that could be had the number been current to a high profile person in political office, a public figure, because while T.V. networks bleeped out all but the area code, the unreacted version is doubtlessly available on YouTube, memorized by someone present at the campaign rally where it was given, representing a potential threat to their safety. Not to mention, if he’s willing to do something like that now as a candidate, how will he treat other more important personal details he knows about people in the public eye; how will he treat sensitive, possibly classified information as president since there seems to be little or no filter on his mouth? Returning one last time to women’s issues, the overall theme of the article, do we want to elect as a leader, another potential Bob Filner eventually indicted for years of sexual harassment, another possible Herman Cain who dropped out of the race as multiple women came forward alleging inappropriate workplace conduct, how about Dennis Hastert who broke banking laws in order to continue paying hush money to victims of his inappropriate relationships with boys as a high school coach, do we subject our country to another Anthony Weiner, the proclivities of Bill Clinton seeing the precursors now abundant in Trump we only knew later with them. Seeing what Bill Cosby got away with for so many years, despite his image, do we trust our nation, our future our women, girls, sisters, daughters to a man consistently making sexist comments who has to come out publically and declare he’s not a rapist?

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